The Way Way Back
Coming of age stories are a rage right now, judging from the popularity of recent flicks such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower or Adventureland. The Way Way Back is cut from similar cloth, but lacks the certain edge of its compatriots.
The last place Duncan (Liam James), a socially awkward 14-year-old, wants to be is at his mother's (Toni Collette) new boyfriend Trent's (Steve Carell) summer home near the Hamptons. Not only does he miss his father, Trent is a narcissistic jerk. Duncan constantly feels ostracized and unwanted. His awkwardness around their neighbor's daughter Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) further aggravates his misery.
Fortunately, Duncan finds his refuge at a local watermark where he meets one of the managers there named Owen (Sam Rockwell), who is basically a boy stuck in a grown man's body. Owen and Duncan immediately hit it off, like long-lost brothers; and to put the young man out of his misery, Owen gives Duncan a summer job at the park.
Eventually, through the extroverted Owen and his peers, Duncan learns the social skills he so sorely lacks. He also becomes more confident in himself to stand up to Owen, to defend his mother, and to find the courage to befriend Susanna.
As Duncan, Liam James (2012) exudes the right amount of awkwardness and introversion to make the character work. James is not the best young actor in the business, but his lack of acting finesse actually works in his favor in this role. As his counterpart, Sam Rockwell (Seven Psychopaths) is excellent as a man who needs a new perspective. Their friendship is heartfelt, bordering on creepy "bromance" if not for their respective heterosexual interests.
The supporting cast is an eclectic mix of veteran dramatic and comedic actors. As Trent, Steve Carell (The Incredible Wonderstone) plays against type as a straight, charming, handsome jerk. He sinks his teeth in the role without making it a cartoonish, stereotypical bad guy, just an ordinary man that we'd all love to hate. Toni Collette (Hitchcock) also does a great job as Duncan's passive mother. Allison Janney (Touchy Feely) is so good playing the dizzy, overzealous neighbor. As the object of Duncan's affection, AnnaSophia Robb (The Soul Surfer) seems somewhat out of place, and her character is a bit forced.
Directed and written by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the minds behind the fantastic The Descendants, this screenplay surprisingly feels rather slight and "afternoon special" at times. In many ways it feels like a knockoff of Adventureland, which is also set in a park with an eclectic group of characters and a dysfunctional family. It has a good coming of age arc, but all too familiar, cliched, complete with the young love interest. It lacks the quirkiness of Adventureland, the immeasurable sadness of Wallflowers, or the edge of Mud. The humor also seems rather amateurish, bordering on cartoonish.
The direction also reminds of of Adventureland. Unfortunately, since that movie is set in the 80s, the nostalgic tone works very well. In this movie, I got disoriented and it took me a while (and seeing an iPhone) to realize the story is set in current time. The pacing also seems off at times and the beginning definitely drags -- it takes too long for Duncan to meet Owen. The characterization is good, but the pacing can be tightened.
It's not to say The Way Way Back is a failure. Much of it is enjoyable and it's a nice coming of age story that only feels familiar because of the typical characters and plot line and the unfair comparison to the superior Adventureland.
Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Liam James, Rob Corddry, Amanda Peets
Directors: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Writers: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic elements, language, some sexual content and drug use
Running Time: 103 minutes
Ratings:
Script - 7
Performance - 8
Direction - 7
Cinematography - 7
Music/Sound - 7
Editing - 7
Production - 8
Total - 7.5 out of 10.0
© 2013 Ray Wong
Do we need another Superman movie? Apparently DC Comics and Hollywood think so, but this time producer Chris Nolan and director Zack Snyder (both no strangers to superheroes) want to take a different approach than in the past.
Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) has always feel different from the time he was a child. After growing being ridiculed and for learning to control his super powers, Clark sets out on a long self-discover journey to find himself and, most important, who he really is and where he came from. His search leads him to Alaska where spaceship has been hidden under the ice for millennia. There he finds out the truth about himself, that he is Kal-El, the son of Jor-El (Russell Crowe), chief scientist of Krypton. The planet, due to its unstable core, was destroyed years ago with the rest of its citizens including Kal-El's parents. They tried their best to save their people but after they failed, they found a way to send Kal-El to Earth, one of Krypton's old outposts.
What Clark/Kal-El does know is that Jor-El's nemesis General Zod and his minions were exiled from Krypton because of treason. But the planet's destruction set them free, and they are tracking Jor-El's son to Earth. They also discovered that Jor-El has injected the genetic imprints of the entire Kryptonite population into Kal-El, and through him, Zod will be able to revive their race and take over Earth as their new home.
Feeling ostracized by people of Earth, Clark has to make a decision which side he is on. Should he continue to hide his superpower as his adoptive father Jonathan (Kevin Costner) once told him that humans are not ready for him? Or should he embrace his power to protect Earth and humans against his own kind? Where does he loyalty lie? And is Earth ready for him as one of its own?
Lots of existential questions for a summer popcorn superhero movie as universal and well-known as Superman. What writer David S. Goyer did was giving Superman a darker, more complex personality and backstory. Clark's struggle as a child and young man ring true as an outcast. Gone is the cockeyed optimism of yesteryear's Superman universe, where Superman is revered and worshipped. Instead, Superman is feared, misunderstood, ridiculed, and marginalized as nothing more than a threat to mankind.
In Goyer's version, Clark Kent's life purpose is more murky, and the character himself is more ambivalent and confused. Even though Kal-El is all Kryptonite, Clark Kent remains very human after all. He struggles with his conflicting feelings about himself, his purpose, his place in a world he's called home since he was a child. He struggles between his true identity and his new identity as a human. He struggles between his feelings for Lois Lane (Amy Adams), and his duty as the world's ultimate protector against things and people like General Zod.
On many levels, this darkened version of Superman works, even though some may feel uncomfortable with the amount of changes the filmmakers have made to the original characters and cannon. Let's face it, Superman is not the Dark Knight. By making Clark more brooding and complex, Goyer has deepened the characterization and given the story and characters more layers, and yet he's somehow stripped out some of the defining characteristic of Superman. The truth is Superman is NOT the Dark Knight. Superman has always been the light and God-figure, the super boy scout of the universe. So this change fundamentally changes how we see Clark Kent/Superman, which can be good or bad depending on how attached you are to the Superman you know.
Henry Cavill (Immortals) has done a good job portraying this new Superman. He is incredibly good-looking and chiseled, definitely super fit for the role. What's impressive is that he also brings sensitivity and complexity that we really haven't seen since Christophe Reeves, and Cavill's portrayal is more in line with Christian Bale than Reeves.
Amy Adams (Trouble with the Curve) is amiable as the iconic Lois Lane, but I feel that she is somewhat miscast. That's not to say her performance is bad; it's just that I don't see her as Lois Lane and after seeing the movie, I still don't see it. There's just something off. Michael Shannon (Premium Rush) plays General Zod with all the villainy he can muster but to me, he lacks the subtlety and sublime layers of Terence Stamp, who remains the definitive General Zod for many fans.
Diane Lane (Secretariat) and Kevin Costner (The Company Man) are both excellent as the Kents, given the over-the-top production some needed down-to-earth quality. And Russell Crowe (Les Miserables) brings great dignity to the role of Jor-El, which surprisingly has a much bigger role in this version.
Zack Synder is no stranger to big budget superhero extravaganzas, and by and large he delivers. Maybe a bit too well. The movie's quieter moments (the flashbacks, the introspection, Clark's solitude, etc.) are very well handled. The action sequences, however, are topnotch Hollywood stuff. Unfortunately, eventually the actions feel drawn out and overlong. One battle after another, we can't help but feel exhausted. The movie is at least 30 minutes too long, and much of the subplots could have been cut. The problem is that Synder and Goyer tried to put both the origin story and a revamped Superman II plot into one movie, and that's just too much. It simply feels like two separate movies being stitched together into one and the over the top actions, and there are many, become distractions instead.
Granted, Man of Steel is still superbly watchable, entertaining, and popcorn worthy. With the added layers of characterizations and the darker aspects, this could have been outstanding like the Dark Knight trilogy. Unfortunately, Goyer and Snyder have bitten more than they could chew and the result is an overlong, over-complicated mash-up of two different movies. It would have been better if they had made this a two-part series instead.
Stars: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Christopher Meloni, Laurence Fishburne
Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: David S. Goyer
Distributor: Warner Bros.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and some language
Running Time: 143 minutes
Ratings:
Script - 7
Performance - 7
Direction - 7
Cinematography - 9
Music/Sound - 8
Editing - 8
Production - 9
Total - 7.8 out of 10.0
© 2013 Ray Wong
Clearly influenced by Japanese anime of giant combat robots and monsters (Kaiju in Japanese), del Toro's Pacific Rim is unabashedly bombastic, loud, larger than life, and fun.
After the first Kaiju's (big monsters) destroyed some of the world's biggest cities, the world reacted by creating the Jaeger project: Jaegers are giant robots that can fight and defeat the Kaiju's. But the way that Jaeger works require two pilots who are "drift compatible" to operate; the Jaeger proves to be too dangerous for one person to handle. Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) is one of the Jaeger pilots. But after his brother/co-pilot was killed in one of the battles, Raleigh quits the program and retreats into obscurity.
Five years later, the Jaeger project is being shut down as the world's government determines that the Jaegers are insufficient to stop the Kaiju's, which are coming at increasing frequency, through an inter- dimensional rift deep under the Pacific Ocean. Director Pentecost (Idris Elba) decides to run the operation as a rote project, and he recruits Raleigh again as he is one of the remaining pilots. At the base, Raleigh meets science officer Mako (Rinko Kikuchi) who happens to be a pilot-in-training and more important, drift compatible with him.
At Raleigh's insistence, Pentecost agrees to let Mako become Raleigh's co-pilot, but Mako's emotional instability threatens everyone's safety and the effectiveness of the Jaegers. Because Raleigh is connected to Mako, he discovers from her memories a deep secret. When the Kaiju's threaten to put a final nail in the coffin for mankind, the remaining four Jaegers must rise to the occasion and defend Earth, maybe for the last time.
Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) successfully channels a young Heath Ledger or Garrett Hedlund as the would-be hero. The character Raleigh is handsome, charming, and sensitive. He is also an alpha male. Hunnam has done a good job, in a broad action-adventure way. Idris Elba (Prometheus) once again plays the military type as Director Pentecost, and he does it really well with great resolve, authority, and heart.
Rinko Kikuchi (Shanghai) impresses as the unlikely heroine of the story. As Mako, Kikuchi is smart, typically Asian (meaning quiet and respectful), but also resourceful and resilient as the strong, silent type. She and Hunnam have good chemistry together to portray the would-be lovers.
The supporting cast comprises of good actors doing typical, cliched comic-book characters. Charlie Day (Monsters University) is particularly annoying as Dr. Newton Geiszler who is more of a buffoon than a scientist (and why do filmmakers always depict scientists as these buffoons?). Burn Gorman (Johnny English Reborn) is Day's counterpart and is just as foolish. Max Martini (Colombiana) reminds me of Sean Bean in The Lord of the Rings even though he's playing a futuristic Jaeger pilot. Robert Kazinsky (Red Tails) is all cocky as Raleigh's rivalry. Clifton Collins Jr. (Parker) is a bit lost in a minor role, and Ron Perlman (Bad Ass) has a flashy role as a "Chinese" smuggler.
The screenplay by Travis Beacham (Clash of the Titans) and Guillermo del Toro (Don't be Afraid of the Dark) follows a pretty simple, standard framework of a sci-fi action adventure. The premise and story remind us of yet another giant robot-alien franchise: The Transformers. The comparison is inevitable. Fortunately, Beacham and del Toro have done a better job developing the characters and plot between the big fights and set pieces. Their characters are at least believable and likable, and there are actually scenes that move the characters forward instead of just letting them be chess pieces.
Still, this is a giant robot vs. giant monster movie, so don't expect Shakespearean writing and character development. What we've come to see are, you guess it, giant robots fighting giant monsters. And we get what we deserve. Under del Toro's unapologetic direction, the actions are bombastic with full-on energy. Everything is done on a grand scale, including the mass destructions. It brings us back to the pure joy and awe of watching old Godzilla movies in which the giant monster destroys the entire city. Here, we get to see the Jaegers and the Kaiju's destroy San Francisco, Tokyo, and Hong Kong with style. That's got to be satisfying.
Still, del Toro has a few missteps. He gives away the plot too quickly in a rushed prologue that leaves not much to the imagination. There are not enough scenes where we can witness the awesomeness of the Kaiju's (or the Jaegers, for that matter). There are way too many scenes shot at night or in dark situations, and too many close ups that it's difficult to discern what is going on. At times the action sequences become so repetitive that I start to worry: "Is this yet another Michael Bay's Transformers?"
Well, del Toro is no Michael Bay. He's much better. Granted, Pacific Rim is nothing as profound and beautiful as Pan's Labyrinth. But as genre sci-fi action/adventure, it does a good job entertaining us with bombastic larger-than-life action sequences and out of the world special effects. With its international cast and exotic locations -- and did I mention giant robots and monsters? -- this should do very well at the home box-office and around the Pacific Rim.
Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr., Ron Perlman
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writers: Travis Beacham, Gullermo del Toro
Distributor: Warner Bros.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, brief language
Running Time: 132 minutes
Ratings:
Script - 7
Performance - 7
Direction - 8
Cinematography - 8
Music/Sound - 7
Editing - 7
Production - 8
Total - 7.5 out of 10.0
© 2013 Ray Wong
Based on Nancy Jo Sales' Vanity Fair article about a group of teenagers who burglarized celebrities' houses, The Bling Ring is an odd irony. On one hand the movie scrutinizes the US teen culture of celebrity worship and materialism; on the other hand, it draws attention to them, making them even more (in)famous than they already are.
Marc (Israel Broussard) is a high school junior who just transferred to "dropout" school in Los Angeles. With low self-esteem and trying to fit in, Marc eventually makes friends with Becca (Katie Chang). Becca and her friend Chloe (Claire Julien) are free-spirited "old souls" who are obsessed with the latest fashion and celebrity gossips; Marc, a fashion-designer wannabe, feels right at home with them. Soon, Becca coerces Marc to go along and break into Paris Hilton's house while she is not in town.
The thrill of getting away with stealing from the celebrities (not to mention the allure of the high end goods and cash) becomes a drug for them. They invade more celebrities' homes and privacy; they steal more expensive things. With the money, they party hard. And they become more daring and start to brag about their conquests to others, including Nicki (Emma Watson) and her best friend Sam (Taissa Farmiga). In a matter of months, the "Bling Ring," with Becca their ring leader, has stolen more than three millions.
As they become more daring and flamboyant, they also become more careless. Soon, the group is arrested. The bizarre twist is that their arrests and eventual sentences make them a notoriety. Celebrities themselves.
Except for Emma Watson (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Leslie Mann (This is 40), the cast is mostly unknowns. Katie Chang (A Birder's Guide to Everything) is particularly impressive as the detached, "cool" chick who is a reckless pathological liar with a criminal mind. Her cold, detached demeanor and sociopathic disposition are perfect for the character. Israel Broussard (Flipped) is arguably the protagonist of the story, and he shows a good mix of naiveté, vulnerability and charm to make us care about him even as he makes all the wrong choices.
This is not Emma Watson's best role, but she does a good job portraying another pathological liar. Her last scene is actually quite chilling to watch. Clair Julien (The Dark Knight Rises) doesn't really have much to do except to act cool and detached as another member of the Bling Ring. Taissa Farmiga (Middleton) makes the best out of her role, as a out-of-control teen who gives me the willies. Leslie Mann plays Emma Watson's mother with a self-deprecating sense of humor.
Written and directed by Sofia Coppola (Marie Antoinette), the screenplay has all of her usual touches: rather off-kilter, episodic, documentary-like and often seemingly irreverent as the characters romp around doing bad things. Coppola's writing and direction style are both laid back, minimalistic, but filled with subtexts, texture and layers. That said, the plot is rather thin and it's sometimes hard to follow a bunch of unlikable characters that don't seem to have any redeeming values, even though we can relate to them at some levels (we've all been young and stupid!) Coppola tries to balance the act by portraying these characters matter-of-factly while injecting her subtle sense of social commentary.
The irony is that while Coppola seemingly criticizes our society's obsession with fame, lifestyle and celebrity, she is also seemingly glorifying the notoriety of these heinous acts of selfish indulgence to a point that we can't help but be fascinated, itching to Google the real Bling Ring. Perhaps that's what Coppola's aiming for, to project a mirror for the audience so that they can see that they're just as intrigued and fascinated with these people much like the "foolish public" whom we chide for being obsessed with reality TV and celebrities. In a way, she reminds us that we are ALL guilty of being part of this culture.
I like The Bling Ring quite a bit, even though I really don't care of any of the characters. Perhaps my own moral codes and judgement are hindering me from being fully engaged in these characters and their story. Still, Copolla has done an admirable job in turning a rather one-note story into a multi-layered character study of peer pressure, obsessions and fame-centric culture.
Stars: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Claire Julien, Taissa Farmiga, Leslie Mann
Director: Sofia Coppola
Writers: Sofia Coppola (based on Vanity Fair article by Nancy Jo Sales)
Distributor: A24
MPAA Rating: R for teen drug and alcohol use, language, brief sexual references
Running Time: 90 minutes
Ratings:
Script - 7
Performance - 7
Direction - 7
Cinematography - 8
Music/Sound - 8
Editing - 7
Production - 7
Total - 7.2 out of 10.0
